The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Geranium, botanically known as Pelargonium hortorum Bailey, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Eclipse Red. The new cultivar is a hybrid seedling resulting from a controlled crossing of a red single flower seed parent known as 590-1 and a scarlet colored semi-double flower pollen parent known as 196-5; both parents having been selected by me from my collection of plants maintained for breeding purposes at Gilroy, Calif.
This new Geranium cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program intended to create new Geranium cultivars with red colored flowers, semi-double flower form, dark green foliage, vigorous growth and superior cutting productivity.
The new cultivar was created in 1989 in the company nursery at Gilroy, Calif. and has been repeatedly asexually reproduced by cuttings in Gilroy, Calif. and in Guatemala over a 16 month period. It has also been trialed at Okemos, Mich. and in each case it has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive propagations; and this novelty appears to be firmly fixed.